Chapter 37
October
“Get the hell away from me with that, you psychotic harpy!” Andrew shouted, making Connor smile as he headed downstairs, more than ready for this morning’s battle.
It had been almost a month since Rory and her cousins kidnapped Andrew.
Well, “talked him into leaving his house and coming to live with her,” as Rory had explained it to the nice police officer that showed up when Andrew managed to get his hands on a cellphone and called for help.
The two of them fought day and night and they seemed to hate each other more than ever, but Rory didn’t let that stop her from making sure that Andrew was cared for.
She took care of him in the morning, came by several times during the day to check up on him and even had that little snot rag of an assistant of hers help out, and she took care of him at night.
Andrew, who’d been ready to give up, hated every last second of it.
He bitched and whined and tried to make several escape attempts, but unfortunately for him, the Bradfords decided to take a special interest in him.
They now had three Bradfords a week, two to work on Strawberry Manor and one to hang out at Rory’s during the day and keep an eye on Andrew.
He’d only managed to sneak past a Bradford one time, but he didn’t get very far, not with Bunny on the job.
One vicious growl and Andrew was making his way back to the bedroom that Rory had set up for him on the first floor.
Thanks to Rory taking over, Andrew had gained back some weight, had health insurance, and all his medication.
He also made it to all of his medical appointments and Rory somehow managed to browbeat the man into putting his name on the waitlist for a transplant.
He had a very rare form of leukemia and was somewhat lucky that a bone marrow donation could heal him.
The only problem was that he had a very rare blood type, but that wasn’t stopping Connor from praying for a miracle.
“Take your medication!” Rory snapped.
“Go to hell!” Andrew shot back.
“Take it!”
“Make me!” Andrew snapped, making Connor cringe on his behalf as he stepped over Bunny and headed for Andrew’s room.
When he stepped inside Andrew’s room and discovered that Rory had his best friend in a headlock and was trying to shove a pill in his mouth, he wasn’t all that surprised. Andrew had set down a challenge, after all.
“Would you two cut the shit? We have to get going or you’re going to be late for your appointment,” Connor said, ignoring the power struggle going on behind him and grabbed some clothes for Andrew.
“Actually,” Rory said, pausing just as Andrew muttered and made a few gagging noises, “if you have room for one more, I need a ride to the medical center, too.”
Frowning, Connor tossed the clothes he’d grabbed for Andrew, who was chugging down a bottle of water as he glared at Rory. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Rory said, waving it off like it was no big deal, “I just have a checkup.”
“Then, why do you have to come with us?” Andrew asked, watching Rory suspiciously, probably because Rory had a tendency of taking over Andrew’s appointments and interrogating his doctors and making Andrew feel like a five-year-old.
Rory rolled her eyes as she snatched the tee-shirt out of Andrew’s hands and returned it to the drawer, only to pick out a different shirt and toss it to him.
He tried to bite back a smile as Andrew shot him an “I told you so” look.
The man bitched day and night about Rory babying him and even though Connor told Andrew that he was imagining things, he wasn’t.
Connor wasn’t about to interfere, for several reasons.
One, he knew that Andrew secretly liked the attention.
It had been a long time since anyone took care of him.
Secondly, it entertained the hell out of him and her cousins.
It lightened the mood and helped relieve some of the stress of trying to get the manor done and kept their minds off of what would happen if the doctors couldn’t find a match.
“Because I lent my Jeep to Max so that he could check up on some orders in town for us and help with the manor. Now, stop your bitching, eat your breakfast, and get your ass dressed or you’ll make us late,” she said as she walked out of the room, only pausing long enough to give Connor a kiss and then, she was off, probably to double-check Andrew’s afternoon pills.
“I hate her,” Andrew said evenly as he picked up the toast that Rory slathered with butter, peanut butter, and jelly, part of her effort to put some weight back on him.
Connor chuckled. “No, you don’t.”
Andrew released a long-suffering sigh as he took a big bite, knowing the little general would just shove it down his throat if he didn’t eat it. “You’re right. I don’t. But if she tries to check on me in the bathroom one more time, I’m going to throttle the little pain in the ass!”
“I’ll let her know,” Connor said, chuckling as he headed out the door to give his friend some privacy.
“You be sure to do that,” Andrew mumbled, and Connor didn’t need to look back to know that his friend was smiling. Rory was a hell of a woman and he’d been damn lucky to snatch her up before some other asshole realized how great she was.
Damn lucky.
“What the hell is taking them so long?” Andrew asked as he fidgeted in the waiting room chair.
“No idea,” Connor said, looking at his watch again.
It was a doctor’s office, so they usually ran behind, but never like this.
They were running an hour and a half behind schedule and if Rory wasn’t already in an exam room and Andrew needed this appointment, he would have told his friend to reschedule. He had a lot of shit to do today.
“Connor, can you go see how long Rory is going to be?” Andrew asked, sounding tired, which was a side effect of the medication and something the doctors should have considered before making him wait this long.
“Yeah, no problem,” Connor said, trying to figure out how to convince his friend to wait a little while longer.
He walked through the door that led to the examination rooms, not bothering to ask where Rory was since he’d overheard the nurse tell her which room to go into.
Plus, they’d just tell him to wait in the waiting room since they weren’t related and he wasn’t her husband.
Next month couldn’t come fast enough as far as he was concerned.
“Rory?” he asked as he knocked on room ten’s door.
“Connor?” Rory asked, sounding happy, which of course, pleased him.
“Can I come in?” he asked, already opening the door and walking in just as Rory pulled on her shoe.
“Yes,” Rory said, smiling and looking happy, which was a bit unexpected, but he wasn’t going to complain since he liked seeing her happy.
“Andrew’s appointment is running behind. I just wanted to see how much longer you were going to be,” Connor said, leaning in and kissing her.
“Just a few more minutes. Can you sit with me?” she asked, taking him off guard.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, not that he had a problem with sitting with her, but it was just an unusual request coming from Rory.
“Yeah, it’s just boring in here by myself. Do you mind?” Rory asked, giving him a sweet smile that he was helpless against.
“Sure,” Connor said, returning her smile as he moved to stand next to her as she sat on the exam table.
They didn’t have to wait long before a doctor came into the room, looking surprised to see Connor. But when Rory quickly explained that he was her fiancé, the doctor nodded and sat down.
“Your test results all look great, Rory. I ran a pregnancy test,” the woman announced, making his heart skip a beat.
Oh, shit…
“The test came back negative. You’ve been under a lot of stress and have been working too hard. I think once you’re able to slow down and take a break that your cycle will go back to normal,” the doctor announced with a polite smile.
“Thank you, Dr. Hahn,” Rory said quietly.
Connor chuckled as he leaned down and kissed the top of Rory’s head. “I guess we got lucky, huh? Maybe you should see if you can get a prescription so that we don’t have to worry about this for a while.”
“I can write you a prescription for birth control if that’s what you want,” Dr. Hahn said, smiling. “But I’d like to talk to you about your other request first.”
Connor was just about to ask what the other request was when a nurse popped her head in the door.
“We found a match for your friend,” she said, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as relief surged through him, that is, until she added, “We also need you to help pick Andrew up off the floor. He may have passed out when we told him the news.”
“Aw, shit,” Connor said, giving Rory a quick kiss on the cheek before he followed the nurse out the door, thanking his lucky stars that he’d managed to avoid becoming a daddy and been given a chance to keep his friend for a little while longer.
Definitely a great day.
“Do you think that you could swing by and visit Andrew in a couple of hours?” Connor asked, sounding excited when all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and mourn the child that wasn’t meant to be.
It had been foolish to let herself get her hopes up.
She should have gone to the doctor sooner or, at the very least, bought a home pregnancy test, but she’d been so damn positive that she’d been pregnant.
She’d never been late a day in her life before.
It had only been natural to assume that she was pregnant.
She’d been stupid, so damn stupid and now her heart ached and all she wanted to do was cry, but she couldn’t.
Connor was happy and she didn’t want to wreck that for him. He didn’t want a child yet and as much as that hurt, it would have hurt a hell of a lot more having a child with a man that didn’t want it.
“Rory?” Connor asked as he pulled into Strawberry Manor’s parking lot.
“Yes?” she asked, feeling like she was in a daze.
“Can you check up on him for me later?” Connor asked, reminding her that at least she had something else to focus on for a while.
“I’ll try, but I might not be able to,” Rory said, avoiding his eyes as she lied to him.
“Why not?”
“I have to go away for a few days.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Now? You need to go away now when Andrew is getting his transplant?” Connor asked, sounding confused and a little disappointed.
“I’m sorry, but I got a call from Trevor while you went to check up on Andrew.
I guess with all the excitement I forgot to tell you but Zoe’s not feeling well and Trevor is running himself ragged between work and taking care of both sets of twins.
Everyone else is trying to help, but they really need someone to stay with them.
I’ll only be gone for a few days,” Rory said, forcing a reassuring smile.
“Okay,” Connor said, sighing and not sounding particularly happy about it, but at least he let it go. “Drive safe, baby, and give me a call when you get there to let me know that you’re okay.”
“I will,” Rory said with another forced smile as she gave him a quick kiss on the lips, glad that this at least bought her a few more days to move on.
New Haven Hospital
The next day…
“We’re not supposed to release you unless you have someone to take care of you,” the nurse explained even as she helped Rory out of the wheelchair and into the waiting taxi.
“My brothers are going to take care of me,” Rory said as another wave of dizziness shot through her head and threatened to make her lose the green Jell-O lunch that they’d forced down her throat.
“Are you sure?” the nurse asked, looking uncertain.
“Yes,” Rory assured her, thankful when the nurse took her at her word and closed the door behind her.
“Where to, Miss?” the driver asked.
“The Holiday Inn on Tremont Street,” she said, closing her eyes and letting her head drop back against the faded-cloth seat as she did her best to ignore the throbbing that was starting to make itself known in her hip.
Thirty minutes later, Rory was letting herself in her hotel room and praying for death with each step. She thought a soak in a hot bath would help, but by the time she made it to the bed, it was obvious that she wouldn’t be making it that far, at least, not today.